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A WORD FROM YOUR PASTOR

JOURNEY By Courtney Rice “Imagine a man sitting in a large, golden throne, which is seated on some very fluffy, white clouds in the sky. He is wearing a beautiful white robe. His voice is big and booming; it intimidates you at first, but then you realize that he is welcoming you with open arms, allowing you to come into his presence as you are. Who is this man? You might think of him as the Greek God Zeus from the Disney Movie Hercules. However, this man is not Zeus. He is in fact a depiction of the image of God I have held for my entire life, at least until recently. My image of God has always remained fairly steady growing up, but lately, I have found myself wondering if this picture is really all that correct. My parents always thought that going to church and having a relationship with Jesus Christ was important, and so they made every effort to raise my brother and me in such a manner so we would see the value in church as well. Therefore, I have been raised in the church, and in a way, by the church, my entire life, and because of that I have known Jesus as my Lord and Savior since the age of nine when I first asked Him into my heart. I attended Sunday school and learned what I would consider to be the “children’s version” of the Bible stories. I learned about Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, Mary and Martha and various other Biblical characters in a juvenile and innocent way – a way in which little kids would be able to understand the basis of the story. Due to the way I was taught about these characters, I have probably gained some childlike views and images of their stories. Similar to the way I gained childlike views of the characters of the Bible, I gained a childlike view and image of my Heavenly Father. I am not sure I can remember a specific moment when I first began to think of God as someone like Zeus, but I have a few ideas as to where I derived this picture from. Growing up, I was taught, or at least was given the implication that Heaven is located in the sky. When I learned how to pray, I was taught to fold my hands together and bow my head “to my Father in Heaven.” When I saw people worshipping God, I witnessed them raising their hands to the sky, reaching up to God “who is in Heaven.” From this, I gained the habit of looking up to the sky when I thank God for something He has done in my life. The combination of these habits and behaviors, as well as the fact that Hercules was one of my favorite Disney movies growing up, probably had a lot to do with the fact that for many years I thought of God as a man sitting on a throne in the sky. Nevertheless, seven years ago, I was offered a new way of thinking about the location of Heaven – one I had never thought of before. I was watching an episode from one of the earlier seasons of 7th Heaven, where Simon, the youngest son of the Camden children, asks his younger sister Ruthie where Heaven is located and she responds by pointing to his heart. This scene blew my childish mind, because I had always thought of Heaven as located in the sky, never Heaven as located in the heart. This moment was the first time I was introduced to another way of seeing the world and thinking about my faith. I no longer had one set place in my mind where Heaven “had” to be located. However, it still took a few more years for me to begin to change my view of God. It was really only last January when I began to think of the phrase “God is love,” and began to question what that really meant, especially for my childhood view of God. Throughout my childhood, I always heard people say that “God is love,” but it never really occurred to me as a way to picture God, until I was old enough to think more in depth about faith and theology. As I began to question this new notion, I began to wonder what implications “God is love” gives me. I thought that maybe God is not a man sitting on a throne in the sky. Maybe He is more like a force of love, similar to the force of gravity. Or maybe the act of love and compassion between people represents God. Dozens of ideas and images of God began to flood my mind. I found myself overwhelmed and I was not sure which image I should accept for myself. Then, at a retreat I attended at the beginning of October I realized what image of God I unconsciously recognized as my own. I was encouraged to create a sculpture out of play dough of who I think God is. It could be a word, shape or anything else I felt like creating. I ended up sculpting the letters L, O, V, and E to spell LOVE because at the time, that was the image of God I held. Two months later, after my first semester of a college Bible course, I am beginning to think of God a little differently once again. I have not entirely given up my image of God as a man sitting on a throne in the sky, because I still like to think of myself as a child at heart. Thinking of God in such a childish view makes the stress and burdens of my everyday life seem a little less substantial because this image presents me with a humankind figure that seems more “real” and easier to visualize. However, I still have the image of God as the force of love in my mind as well. Since I always hear people say “God is love” I have accepted that idea as “true” and “correct.” I cannot visualize love like I can visualize a man, but I can visualize the action of love. Both of these images allow me to contemplate my faith and my God, but I am starting to take another approach to this issue of the image of God. I am beginning to accept the thought that the image of God can be different for everyone. Since we cannot physically see God there is no way to know what image is correct and accurate. For me, I like to say that God is whoever a person needs Him to be at that moment in their life. My image of God has changed over the course of the past eighteen years, but the image I always held was the one I needed at that time and season in my life. For now though, I am content with the notion that God is so much more than I or anyone could ever imagine or picture.” I wrote this for an essay in my English class this past fall. As you can see, I have been on a journey in my faith recently. However, as it is the 28th of December, and we are only days away from ringing in the New Year, I am forced to look back and reexamine this past year. It has been a year of journeying for me. In June I waved goodbye to the last four years as I graduated from High School; in August I had the incredible opportunity to travel through the United Kingdom with my family; and at the end of August I left home to go to college in Indiana. It has been a year of tears, laughter, and new experiences, and thinking back on it, I find that I was fearful in the beginning. I didn’t know what to expect, and in some ways that’s pretty much how I feel about 2012. Therefore, I have decided that I am going to approach the New Year a little differently this time: living my life to the fullest. Taking advantage of opportunities that come my way, limiting my fear so I can actually enjoy the ride, and most importantly, putting my faith and trust in my Heavenly Father. May you have a blessed 2012. NEW YEAR’S MUSINGS?????? So lately I have taken to cleaning out drawers, cabinets and closets. It started when I was getting ready to leave on sabbatical last July. I had to “move out of my office” for four months and decided to go through some drawers and file cabinets and bookshelves. Sorting, tossing, checking old batteries, creating new files, returning things loaned or borrowed or shared. After we got home from the UK my straightening continued. Closets and drawers at home… I went through all the Tupperware and stacks of plastic cottage cheese and butter tubs. Found and matched lids for all—threw out cracked and broken containers. Then on to the “catch all” drawers in the kitchen and desk in the dining room… the computer desk. The pots and pans cabinet… even under the sinks in the kitchen and bathrooms….What was I thinking? J The truth is, I am still on a mission. There are still many places to sort and organize. And, I have been doing this long enough that there are some places ready for me to pass through again. Life can tend to collect stuff and people with different personalities and at different stages of life tend to relate to their “stuff” and their “space” differently. Something I “saved for later” years ago may have no value for me when I come across it again in the present. Likewise, some old thing that might have meant little to me years ago may have become precious in some way even while I was unaware it was happening. I think of the adage “Out of sight, out of mind” and wonder if the opposite is also true: “Out of mind, out of sight”. Then I think of all the ways our stuff and our documents, etc… represent seasons and periods of our life’s journey. Though not completely on their own, the kids are gone now more than they are here and so even our decor and home layout are changing. Back in the early 80’s Robert Boyd Munger wrote a popular devotional entitled “My Heart, Christ’s Home”. (You can find it online at: http://mckeesportalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/My-Heart-Christs-Home.pdf) He speaks about his relationship with Christ as being the host to Christ in his own home. The imagery has rung true with many people for over 25 years. So straightening, sorting, cleaning, organizing, storing, maintaining & prioritizing in our lives seems to be an on-going theme and journey. It is both a task and an attitude. And Christ desires to be a part of it… indeed, as in Munger’s tale, Christ desires to oversee and administrate it… to take possession and title to our lives and all our “Stuff”. Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. 2 A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. 5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 6 A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. 8 A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. 9 What do people really get for all their hard work? 10 I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 12 So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. A blessed Christmas season and Happy New Year to you all Beloved. Pastor Marc Senior Pastor Marc Rice Administrative Assistant: Darla Sauer Winter Office Hours: Monday is Accounting Day Office closed Tuesday - Thursday: 8:30 am - 11:30 Friday: 8:00 - 10:00 A.M. e-mail address: goodnews@mchog.org